Cilla Black: How Priscilla White was given her new name after a magazine error - Mirror Online Cilla Black: How Priscilla White was given her new name after a magazine error The legendary entertainer, who passed away aged 72, was re-born as Cilla after a simple mistake Share Get celebs updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email She shot to fame and captured the nation's hearts as Cilla Black . But the legendary entertainer, who passed away on Sunday aged 72, was actually born Priscilla White. Magazine journalist Bill Harry has told how he was responsible for Priscilla's new moniker after a simple error in a magazine. Writing in The Sun, he recalled being friends with the star in the 1960s, when he was launching music magazine Mersey Beat. (Photo: Rex) Priscilla was at that time known to her friends as Cilla and he asked her to write a fashion column for his new venture. He also decided to write about her music ventures, under a piece called 'Swinging Cilla'. He wrote: "I was writing the second paragraph and realised I couldn't remember Cilla's surname.

I knew it was a colour, but I couldn't remember which one. "The piece was about colours and I somehow decided the colour in her surname must have been Black, so that's what I called her. View gallery "When the issue came out on July 6, 1961, Cilla's dad John, a docker, was upset but Cilla told me she liked the sound of her new name and would use it. So she became Cilla Black." Cilla, who was the highest paid woman on TV in the 80s and 90s, was found dead at her Spanish villa in Marbella on Sunday. Her amazing life was documented in a three-part series on ITV last year where actress Sheridan Smith took the honour to play the role of Cilla. 'Surprise Surprise' TV - 1984 - Cilla Black (Photo: REX) Sheridan has paid her respects to Cilla's family, she said: “I’m absolutely devastated to hear the news. She was the most remarkable woman, a true legend. She was so kind and helpful to me, it was a privilege to play her. “My condolences go out to her family and all who loved her.

She will be truly missed.” The star hit the big time in the 1960s with her number one singles Anyone Who Had A Heart and You’re My World. In 2013 Cilla celebrated 50 years in showbusiness. Other highlights in her glittering career included hosting Blind Date and Surprise Surprise. Video Loading Priscilla White | United Kingdom | ZoomInfo.com got to know them all. "In all these clubs you made a point of making friends with everybody," she says. "It was rather like a glorified YMCA. I used to collect a lot of autographs and watch a lot of performers because I was very much interested in show business. Deep down in my heart I knew I was going to be a singer." By October 1962 Cilla was working at the Cavern in her lunch hours, hanging up coats for five shillings (60 cents) an hour. "That way I could listen to the music and get paid for it," she says. ... "They knew my name was a color of some sort, but they didn't know whether it was Black or White. ...

"Because by now everyone was so used to calling me Cilla Black that they couldn't imagine me Cilla White, so we kept it Cilla Black." ... Biography – The Official Cilla Black Website Facebook Biography CILLA BLACK OBE was one of Great Britain’s most successful and best-loved entertainers of all-time – she had 19 UK ‘Top 40’ singles (including two #1 hits), released 15 studio albums, sold out concert venues around the world and presented many iconic British TV shows whilst bringing up three sons with her husband, Bobby Willis. Born Priscilla Maria Veronica White on the 27th May 1943, she grew up in a musically oriented household in one of the toughest parts of Liverpool. Living with her parents and three brothers, she was often encouraged to practice her innate singing talent by performing to her family. “It’s no wonder that I knew I wanted to be a professional singer from a very early age, because I was surrounded by music in our house.

My father played the mouth organ, my mother and aunts used to sing, and it wasn’t unusual for families to get together and make their own music in the fifties.” During her late teens, the sheer drive Cilla had to become famous made her adamant that she would never be labelled as just another girl “suitable for office work” as an early school report had suggested. Understandably, she wanted more from life and could regularly be found escaping to the trendy clubs of the day like The Iron Door and The Cavern, the latter of which was where she worked as a coat-check girl. She also served coffee at The Zodiac, another clubbers’ haven, where, incidentally, she met her husband-to-be, Bobby Willis. Perfectly placed amongst the up-and-coming stars of the day, she wowed them with her singing and confidently convinced the powers that be to let her share the spotlight on stage. Thanks to a lot of support from her friends, she quickly became a mini-celebrity in her neighbourhood, performing alongside so many legendary acts that were fundamental in establishing the “Mersey Sound”, such as The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Fourmost and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

Due to a twist of fate, Priscilla White (known around the Liverpool music scene as “Swinging Cilla”) almost overnight received a new stage name, when the music paper the ‘Mersey Beat’ misprinted her surname as Cilla Black, a name that she favoured and happily kept. It wasn’t long before Cilla came to the attention of Brian Epstein, a local talent scout and manager of The Beatles. Epstein was introduced to her by none other than John Lennon, who persuaded him to arrange an audition at The Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead. Unfortunately, the audition was unsuccessful due to a combination of nerves and singing to The Beatles’ accompaniment, who played in their own key. All was not lost as, to her surprise, she was later spotted by Epstein while singing “Bye, Bye Blackbird” in the jazzy surroundings of the Blue Angel club. This performance finally convinced him to sign her, so on the 6th September 1963, she became his only female vocalist! There was an immediate bond between Cilla and Epstein.

From the moment he met his starlet, he wanted to nurture the ‘Judy Garland’ qualities he believed she possessed, having high aspirations of creating a British icon who, in his prophetic words, would become “…one of the biggest stars in this country for thirty or forty years”. His faith, combined with Cilla’s talent, effortlessly convinced George Martin, the renowned producer of Matt Monro, Shirley Bassey and The Beatles, that she was worthy of signing to Parlophone Records (a subsidiary label of the EMI Group). Shortly afterwards, Cilla Black made her debut on the British singles charts with one of the first of many songs given to her by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “Love of the Loved”, a song Cilla had often heard The Beatles perform at The Cavern. The recording made a modest impression on the British charts when it was released on the 27th September 1963. This was soon to be overshadowed by her next release, which Brian Epstein discovered on a trip to the USA.

“Anyone Who Had A Heart”, a song by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, had already proved to be a massive hit for Dionne Warwick which Cilla, then a keen follower of the US Top 100, had already admired prior to it being suggested by Epstein. Her knockout rendition, recorded in January 1964, went on to become not only her first No. 1 but is still, to this day, the biggest selling single of all time by a British female recording artist. George Martin acquired the perfect follow-up, an Italian ballad, “Il Mio Mondo”, with an English lyric, became “You’re My World”. This epic “torch” song went on to become Cilla’s second No. 1, paving the way for an influx of other Italian songs such as Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”. Furthermore, it broke Cilla into the tough US market as well as gaining her massive support across Europe and Australasia, culminating in hundreds of sell-out concert dates throughout her time at EMI (1963-1978). “When I reached No.

1 in the charts with “You’re My World”, it made me the second British girl to ever have two successive No. 1 hits. I heard the good news just days before my 21st birthday. Two No. 1 hits in a row!” During the sixties, Cilla sustained her place at the forefront of the Brit-Pop music scene, with one of the most impressive starts for a British female recording artist, including 17 consecutive Top 40 triumphs on the singles charts. To put this unprecedented success into perspective, it happened during a decade when achieving a Top 20 single meant that you had to sell in excess of 100,000 copies a day in the UK alone! In August 1967, only days before his premature death, Brian Epstein had engineered Cilla’s switch to television with her own eponymous variety show for BBC TV. The immediate success of the ‘Cilla’ series marked the beginning of a new phase of Cilla’s professional life as she was now one of Britain’s top rated television entertainers. Her show regularly commanded staggering audience figures of between 18 and 22 million until it ended in 1976.

Apart from providing Cilla with the opportunity to perform her music, it also showcased her infectious personality, her ability to host a live show, the ease with which she performed with guest stars, acted in comedy sketches and her forte – her interaction with the general public. Cilla’s immense popularity continued throughout the seventies into the nineties through an array of successful concert tours, situation comedy series, pantomime performances, summer season shows, West End productions and her prime-time entertainment shows – ‘Surprise!, Surprise!’ (1983-1997), ‘Blind Date’ (1985-2003) and ‘Cilla’s Moment Of Truth’ (1998-2001) for British broadcaster ITV. In 1997, Cilla was honoured with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her achievements in the entertainment industry. In 1999, after 30 years of marriage, Cilla’s beloved husband and manager Bobby Willis sadly passed away at the age of 57.

Bobby was not only acknowledged and respected for his skilful management of Cilla’s career, he was a songwriter, executive TV producer and executive producer of many stage productions. Following Bobby’s death Cilla’s eldest son Robert took over as her manager. In January 2003, Cilla announced during a special live edition of her dating show ‘Blind Date’ that she was to quit as the host. After Cilla’s surprise resignation she continued to host one-off television shows such as ‘Cilla Live!’ for Living TV (2004), ’50 Greatest TV Endings’ for Sky 1 (2008) and ‘Cilla’s Unswung Sixties’ for Yesterday (2012). She was also a judge on the first series of the reality TV series ‘Soapstar Superstar’ for ITV (2006) and guest presented editions of popular TV series ‘The Paul O’Grady Show’, ‘The Friday Night Project’, ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ and ITV’s panel show ‘Loose Women’.

For Christmas 2008, Cilla took to the stage at the Liverpool Empire as the Fairy Godmother, in a big-budget revamp of the pantomime ‘Cinderella’ – this was Cilla’s first pantomime for 17 years and was also the finale to Liverpool’s year as “European Capital of Culture 2008”. In 2011, Cilla appeared, as herself, in the Series 4 opener of Derren Litten’s hilariously funny hit situation comedy ‘Benidorm’. In September 2013, Cilla celebrated 50 glittering years in show business. This magnificent milestone was marked by a TV special ‘The One and Only Cilla Black‘ for ITV as well as the release of a photo memoir and a greatest hits compilation ‘The Very Best Of Cilla Black’ (this became a No. 1 selling album for Cilla in the UK & NZ after her passing in August 2015). In spring 2014, ITV filmed ‘Cilla’ – a new television series by award-winning screenwriter Jeff Pope with British actress Sheridan Smith in the starring role.

The three part docudrama chronicling Cilla’s early career was filmed on location in Liverpool. Each episode of ‘Cilla’ received critical acclaim and impressive UK viewing figures of over 8 million. “I was very much involved before the scripts were written, Jeff interviewed me several times. After the near final drafts were done Jeff and Robert came over to my house in Denham and we went through them, making any factual changes and tweaks. They wanted me to be happy and I was…” Later in 2014, Cilla received a special BAFTA award for her outstanding contribution to entertainment and also the first ever Royal Television Society ‘Legends’ Award recognising her 50 years in the television business. On 1 August 2015, to the shock of the Nation it was announced that Cilla had died at her holiday home in Spain aged just 72. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Paul O’Grady, Bruce Forsyth and Prime Minister David Cameron were among friends, colleagues in the entertainment industry and politicians who expressed their sorrow at Cilla’s untimely death. Cilla Black OBE was undoubtedly one of Great Britain’s most successful and best-loved entertainers of all time.

She enriched British popular culture for decades through music, television and comedy and this extraordinary legacy ensures she will live on in the hearts of millions! For more information on Cilla Black’s life read her Top 5 best-selling autobiography ‘ What’s It All About? ‘. Latest Album Cilla Black: the sparky Liverpudlian we came to know as 'our Cilla' | Television & radio | The Guardian Cilla Black Cilla Black: the sparky Liverpudlian we came to know as 'our Cilla' Cilla Black, as pop star and TV presenter, was known for her smiling kindness, although behind her public breeziness she had taken some hard knocks Cilla Black with her then fiance Bobby Willis in 1969. She was left devastated by her husband’s death 30 years later.

Photograph: AP Monday 3 August 2015 02.26 EDT First published on Sunday 2 August 2015 11.34 EDT Close This article is 1 year old When Cilla Black achieved her two UK number ones in 1964, the records she knocked off the top of the charts were Diane by the Bachelors and Juliet by the Four Pennies. The contrast between the relatively low name recognition today of those musical rivals and the enduring celebrity held until death by Cilla – she was recognised by first name alone long before Madonna – is a mark of the determination and adaptability that lay behind her everyday manner. Showbiz is so fickle that it is impressive to achieve one burst of sustained fame, as Cilla did with her singing career. It is therefore extraordinary to have also succeeded in adding a pair of number one TV shows in the 1980s to match her chart-topping songs. For almost a decade, Blind Date and Surprise Surprise allowed her to dominate the ITV weekend schedule in much the same way Ant and Dec do now.

Cilla Black, singer and TV personality, dies aged 72 Read more Although she had more or less retired from major projects by the time she celebrated her 50th anniversary in the entertainment industry in 2013, she was brought to the attention of a younger audience following last year’s three-part ITV drama based on her early career, Cilla . In it, Sheridan Smith played Priscilla White, the Liverpudlian teenager who was signed by the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, and who would later become Cilla Black. Smith captured perfectly the star’s powerful singing style and her sparky, laughy speaking voice, from which, despite living for much of her life in the south of England, she never lost an ounce of scouse. Her TV catchphrase – promising a “lorra lorra laughs” to the audience – owed its impact to the tones of her home town. Pinterest The life and work of Cilla Black: video highlights In some cases, when a living figure is depicted as nice and wholesome, it is because they have good lawyers, but in ITV’s Cilla the niceness dramatised was the truth. She was an unlikely megastar.

In both the 60s, when Cilla was a pop icon, and the 80s, when she became a TV star, women performers were often required to fit a template of sexiness imposed by male executives. Cilla, though, challenged the stereotypes in both her recording and broadcasting careers. Cilla Black obituary Read more Though attractive and perky, she never pretended, as a singer, to be anything other than the good Liverpudlian Catholic girl she was, giving the impression, unusually for the 60s music scene, that she was more likely to opt for cocoa with her mum after a gig than a beer with a Beatle – although she had a sort of little sister relationship with the Fab Four and recorded Lennon and McCartney compositions. As for television, she liked to claim in autobiographies and interviews that her career had been revived through being, as she described herself, “sexless”. She insisted TV regulators would never have tolerated a format as full of sexual tension and innuendo as Blind Date if it had not been for the controlling presence of the maternal and decorous Cilla, placing herself between the contestants like a Victorian chaperone.

Pinterest Bruce Forsyth and Ken Dodd pay tribute to Cilla Black In truth, a more significant factor was, once again, her Liverpudlian affiliation. John Birt, a contemporary on Merseyside, was director of programmes at LWT and retained an affection for the city’s famous singer. And Cilla’s habitually self-deprecating analysis of her appearance and appeal missed the point that the key quality, in her music and on television, was the sense she projected of innate likeability and approachability. Dating shows and ambush programmes – such as Surprise Surprise – are both genres of TV that can be prone to cruelty. But, in Cilla’s versions, any risk was diluted by her smiling kindness. Cilla Black – a life in pictures Read more Behind the breeziness she affected in public appearances, she had taken some hard knocks. The early death in 1999 of her husband and manager, Bobby Willis, shook her faith for some time in the world and in herself: his understanding of her personality and public appeal had been crucial to the shaping of her working life. She may also have felt, more deeply than she let on, some regret at no longer being at the heart of the TV schedule and made various attempts to return.

When Cilla the TV series was shown, some regarded it as premature to make such a substantial drama about a still-living figure, but it now stands as perfect obituary for ITV to screen. One of her vocal mannerisms was the continuing use of the Merseyside possessive, in which a relative is referred to as “our Dad” or “our Graham.” As Brian Epstein, Bobby Willis and John Birt understood, this was a performer who, by retaining her warmth and normality, had an unusual ability to make audiences regard her as “our Cilla”. Priscilla Maria Veronica Willis (White), OBE (1943 - 2015) - Genealogy About Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White - Cilla Black OBE Cilla Black OBE (born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, 27 May 1943) is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality. Championed by The Beatles , she began her career as a singer in 1963, and her singles " Anyone Who Had a Heart " (1964) and " You're My World " (1964) both reached number one.

Black had eleven Top Ten hits on the British charts between 1964 and 1971. In May 2010 new research published by BBC Radio 2 showed that her version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was the UK's biggest selling single by a female artist in the 1960s.[1] "You're My World" was also a modest hit in the United States, peaking at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, and both songs were among the chart-toppers in Australia. Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s and early 1970s, Black hosted her own eponymous variety show, Cilla, for the BBC between 1968 and 1976. After a brief time as a comedy actress in the late 1970s, she became a prominent television presenter in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting hit entertainment shows such as Blind Date (1985–2003) and Surprise Surprise (1984–2001).

In 2013, Black celebrated her 50 years in show business. British television network ITV honoured this milestone with a one-off Entertainment special which aired on 16 October 2013. The show, called The One & Only Cilla Black, featured Black herself and was hosted by Paul O'Grady.[2] Early life Black was born in Liverpool, England, on 27 May 1943 and grew up in the Scotland Road area of the city. Her parents were John Patrick White and Priscilla Blythen. Black had a Welsh grandfather, Joseph Henry Blythen, who was born in Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales, and Irish great grandparents on her father's and mother's side of the family.[3][4] She was raised in a Roman Catholic household, and attended St. Anthony's School.[5] which was behind St. Anthony's Church in Scotland Road,[6] and Anfield Commercial College. Determined to become an entertainer, Black got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at Liverpool's Cavern Club, best known for its association with the Beatles. Her impromptu performances impressed the Beatles and others.

She was encouraged to start singing by a Liverpool promoter, Sam Leach, who gave her her first gig at the Casanova Club, where she appeared as "Swinging Cilla". She became a guest singer with the Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes and, later, with the Big Three. She was also a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she was to meet her future husband Bobby Willis. Black was featured in an article in the first edition of the local music newspaper Mersey Beat; the paper's publisher, Bill Harry, mistakenly referred to her as Cilla Black, rather than White, and she decided she liked the name, and took it as a stage name.[7] Music career Black signed her first contract with a long-time friend and neighbour, Terry McCann, but this contract was never honoured as it was signed when she was under age and her father subsequently signed her with Brian Epstein. Epstein had a portfolio of local artists. At first, he showed little interest in Black. She was introduced to Epstein by John Lennon, who persuaded him to audition her.

Her first audition was a failure, partly because of nerves, and partly because the Beatles (who supported her) played the songs in their vocal key rather than re-pitching them for Black's voice. In her autobiography What's It All About? she writes: I'd chosen to do "Summertime", but at the very last moment I wished I hadn't. I adored this song, and had sung it when I came to Birkenhead with the Big Three, but I hadn't rehearsed it with the Beatles and it had just occurred to me that they would play it in the wrong key. It was too late for second thoughts, though. With one last wicked wink at me, John set the group off playing. I'd been right to worry. The music was not in my key and any adjustments that the boys were now trying to make were too late to save me. My voice sounded awful. Destroyed—and wanting to die—I struggled on to the end. But after seeing her another day, at the Blue Angel jazz club, Epstein contracted with Black as his only female client on 6 September 1963.

Epstein introduced Black to George Martin who signed her to Parlophone Records and produced her début single, "Love of the Loved" (written by Lennon and McCartney), which was released only three weeks after she contracted with Epstein. Despite an appearance on ABC-TV's popular Thank Your Lucky Stars, the single peaked at a modest No.35 in the UK, a relative failure compared to début releases of Epstein's most successful artists (the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas). Black's second single, released at the beginning of 1964, was a cover of the Burt Bacharach–Hal David composition "Anyone Who Had a Heart", which had been written for Dionne Warwick. The single beat Warwick's recording into the UK charts and rose to No.1 in Britain in February 1964 (spending 3 weeks there), selling 800,000 copies in the UK in the process.[8] Her second UK No.1 success, "You're My World", was an English language rendition of the Italian popular song "Il Mio Mondo".

She also enjoyed chart success with the song in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and Canada. Both songs sold over one million copies worldwide, and were awarded gold discs.[9] Black's two No. 1 successes were followed by the release of another Lennon–McCartney composition, "It's for You", as her fourth UK single. Paul McCartney played piano at the recording session and the song proved to be another major international success for Black, peaking at No. 7 on the UK charts. Black belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield, Helen Shapiro, Petula Clark, Sandie Shaw and Lulu. These artists (other than Petula Clark) were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of 1960s contemporary popular music by song writers and producers. Black recorded much material during this time, including songs written by Phil Spector, Randy Newman, Tim Hardin and Burt Bacharach. All were produced by George Martin at Abbey Road Studios. Black's version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (1965) reached No. 2 on the UK charts in the same week that the Righteous Brothers's original version of the same song went to No.

1 there (week of 4 February 1965). This was the first of only three occasions in the history of the British Top 40 where the same song, recorded by two different artists, held the top two positions in the chart in the same week. George Martin's and Parlophone's attempts to pull off the same trick that they had succeeded at with "Anyone Who Had a Heart", taking a strong song released by an American artist hitherto unknown to British audiences and giving it to Cilla, did not succeed in the same successful fashion in February 1965 as it had twelve months earlier. Being so closely associated with the Beatles, Black became one of a select group of artists in the 1964-65 period (the others in the same position being Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and Peter and Gordon) to record more than one Lennon–McCartney composition. Black continued to record Lennon-McCartney compositions throughout the period (1963–1973) that she was under contract to EMI's Parlophone; Black's recordings of "Yesterday", "For No One" and "Across the Universe" were acclaimed critically and became radio favourites.

McCartney said Black's 1972 interpretation of "The Long and Winding Road" represented for him how he always intended the song to be sung. Black's career in the United States, although begun enthusiastically by Epstein and his PR team, was limited to a few television appearances (The Ed Sullivan Show among them), a 1965 cabaret season at the Plaza Hotel in New York, and success with "You're My World", which made it to No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was to be her only American chart success, and Elvis Presley had a copy on his personal jukebox at his Graceland home. Black herself recognised that to achieve popular status in the USA she would need to devote much time to touring there. But she was plagued by homesickness and a sense of loneliness and returned to the UK just as she was starting to become popular in the US. During 1966, Black recorded the Bacharach-David song "Alfie", written as the signature song to the 1966 feature film, Alfie.

While Cher sang "Alfie" on the closing credits of the American release of the film and Millicent Martin on the UK version, Black was the first and only artist to have a hit with the song in the UK (No.9). "Alfie" went on to become a success for both Cher (in 1966) and Dionne Warwick (in 1967) in the States. Black's version of "Alfie" was arranged and conducted by Bacharach himself at the recording session at Abbey Road. Bacharach insisted on several takes, and Black cited the session as one of the most demanding of her recording career. For Bacharach's part, he said "... there weren't too many white singers around, who could convey the emotion that I felt in many of the songs I wrote but that changed with people like Cilla Black ..." [10] By the end of 1966, Black had been a guest on Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Not Only...

But Also; appeared in a Ray Galton-Alan Simpson revue in London's West End—Way Out in Piccadilly—alongside Frankie Howerd; made notable appearances on The Eamonn Andrews Show and starred in her own television special (the first of its kind to be filmed in colour), Cilla at the Savoy. Epstein's attempts to make Black a film actress were less successful. A brief appearance in the "beat" film Ferry 'Cross the Mersey and a leading role alongside David Warner in the 1968 psychedelic comedy Work Is a Four-Letter Word were largely ignored by film critics. In a 1997 interview with Record Collector magazine, Black revealed she was asked to appear in the 1969 film The Italian Job, playing the part of Michael Caine's girlfriend, but negotiations fell through between producers and her management over her fee. Epstein died of an accidental drug overdose in August 1967, not long after negotiating a contract with the BBC for his only female artist to appear in a television series of her own.

Relations between Epstein and Black had somewhat soured during the year prior to his death, due largely to the fact that Epstein was not paying her career enough attention and the fact that Black's singles "A Fool Am I" (UK No.13, 1966) and "What Good Am I?" (UK No.24, 1967) were not big successes. Apparently Black was also unhappy with Epstein's public admission that he had taken LSD. In her autobiography, Black claimed that Epstein had tried to pacify her by negotiating a deal that would see her representing the UK in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest. However, Black refused on the basis that Sandie Shaw had won the previous year's contest, and that the chances of another British female artist winning were improbable. After the death of Epstein, Black's boyfriend and songwriter Bobby Willis assumed management duties. After the relatively disappointing performance of "I Only Live to Love You" (UK No. 26, 1967), Black hit a new purple patch in her recording career, starting with "Step Inside Love" in 1968 (UK No.

8), which McCartney wrote especially for her as the theme for her new weekly BBC-TV variety series. Other successes followed in 1969: "Conversations" (UK No. 7), "Surround Yourself With Sorrow" (UK No. 3), "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" (No. 20). Black had a further big hit with "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" (UK No. 3) in 1971. Black's association with the Beatles continued. At a Cannes Film Festival during the 1970s, she joined George Harrison, Ringo Starr and popular music singer Marc Bolan to attend a screening of the John Lennon-Yoko Ono experimental film Erection. She also holidayed with Harrison and Starr on a trip aboard a yacht chartered by Starr. "Photograph" was written on this trip—originally intended for Black to record—but Starr decided to record it himself. George Harrison also wrote two songs for Black: "The Light that has Lighted the World" and "I'll Still Love You (When Every Song is Sung)".

The latter she recorded during 1974 with her then producer David Mackay, but it was not heard publicly until 2003 when it was included on a retrospective collection entitled Cilla: The Best of 1963–78. Black shows an increasing reluctance to sing nowadays, though there have been two returns to the recording studio in recent times; in 1993, she released Through the Years, an album of new material featuring a number of duets with Dusty Springfield, Cliff Richard and Barry Manilow. Ten years later, she released the album Beginnings ... Greatest Hits and New Songs. In his 1969 study of popular music history Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, the rock music journalist Nik Cohn wrote prophetically: It's true—the British don't like their girl singers to be too good, they think it smacks of emancipation, and Cilla at least seemed safe. Obviously, she was quite a nice girl. Also, she was respectable and reliable, very clean and quite unsexy, and she played daughter or maybe kid sister, steady date or fiancée, but she played nobody's mistress at all. She wasn't like that.

Everyone patronised her like hell, waiting for her to fall, but then she didn't fall after all, she floated instead and she's still up there now. She won't ever come down either—she doesn't sing much, she still comes on like a schoolgirl but she's liked like that and she can't go wrong. Genuinely, she's warm and she makes people glow. In her time, she will grow into a pop Gracie Fields, much loved entertainer, and she'll become institutionalised. Black was the best-selling British female recording artist in the UK during the 1960s. To date, she has released 15 studio albums and 37 singles. During 2006–07, Black's 1971 single "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" was used as the soundtrack to a new British advertising campaign for Ferrero Rocher chocolates. During the 2008–09 pantomime season, Black returned to live musical performance in the pantomime Cinderella, appearing as the Fairy Godmother.

Black was part of an all-Scouse cast assembled in this three-hour stage spectacular to mark the end of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. The show incorporated a number of Black's successes, which she performed live, including "You're My World", "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)", "Step Inside Love" and "Sing a Rainbow". Black received rave reviews for her singing and overall performance.[11][12][13][14] On 7 September 2009, a total of 13 original studio albums (the first seven produced by George Martin) recorded by Black between 1963 and 2003 were released for digital download. These albums were all digitally remastered and featured an array of musical genres.

Also released by EMI at the same time was a double album and DVD set, The Definitive Collection (A Life in Music), featuring rare BBC video footage; a digital download album of specially commissioned re-mixes Cilla All Mixed Up; a remixed single on digital download of "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)".[15] For the 2010 winter pantomime season, Black appeared in Cinderella at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.[16] In October 2013, Parlophone Records (the record label which launched her career in 1963) released the career-spanning CD The Very Best Of Cilla Black —containing all 19 of her UK Top 40 singles, new club remixes plus a bonus DVD of her 1966 TV music special Cilla at the Savoy.[17] Television career BBC Black was offered her own show on the BBC by Bill Cotton, then Assistant Head of Light Entertainment. The first series of Cilla was broadcast on Tuesday 30 January 1968.

On the first show, her guest was Tom Jones and the two popular music stars sang a duet together. Paul McCartney (without Lennon) wrote the theme tune - another chart success for Black - entitled "Step Inside Love". This song was later covered by Madeline Bell. The series was very popular and ran for almost a decade, racking up eight seasons (66 episodes) between January 1968 and April 1976. Although it featured guest appearances by many famous stars of the era (including Cliff Richard, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Charles Aznavour, Ringo Starr, Lulu, Matt Monro, Sacha Distel, Donovan, Georgie Fame, Dusty Springfield, Ethel Merman, the Shadows, Phil Everly, Marc Bolan, Jimmy Tarbuck and Ronnie Corbett), most of the episodes (recorded on videotape) were subsequently erased by the BBC. This success paved the way for a lengthy television career which continued intermittently until 2003.

Black began the 1970s by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Anyone Who Had a Heart" live on the show broadcast across Europe and BBC1, on 31 December 1969. Black recorded her performance for this show separately, in a different studio without an audience, although she did sing live.[18] Like so many of her contemporaries, during the 1970s, Black's musical career declined, although she toured often. Increasingly thought of as a television "personality", she found herself experimenting with situation comedy for ITV. Her BBC series, Cilla, continued successfully until 1976, recessing during 1970, 1972 and 1975. The theme songs from the Cilla series were also successful. Step Inside Love opened the series in both the 1968 and 1969 runs and reached number 8 in the UK singles chart on its release.

Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight) was the theme for the 1971 and 1973 shows, reaching number 3 and becoming Black's last top ten success. "Baby, We Can't Go Wrong" was used for the 1974 series and was a minor success, reaching number 36, Black's last UK chart song until 1993. "It's Now" was the final theme from the 1976 series and failed to reach the charts, though it was released as a "B" side. The UK's Eurovision Song Contest entry selection process was part of the Cilla show in both 1968 and 1973, when her close friend, Cliff Richard was the featured artist performing all the songs shortlisted in the A Song For Europe segment. Black was originally asked to sing for the UK in 1968 and was asked again for the 1970 contest, but declined because she was pregnant at the time.

In 2007, Black took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history, with roots in Wrexham and Holywell.[19] Comedy actress On 15 January 1975, Black performed as the main entertainer of the first of six half-hour situation comedy plays. The series which was broadcast on ITV was entitled Cilla's Comedy Six[20] and written by Ronnie Taylor. During May 1975, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain named Black as Britain's Top Female Comedy Star. The following year, ATV was commissioned to film six more plays as the initial series had accrued healthy viewing figures and remained constantly among the best scoring three shows of the week. During August 1976, Black reprised her role as a comedy-actress in Cilla's World of Comedy[21] which featured her theme song and new single "Easy in Your Company". From 2013 to 14, Black was to co-star in a new BBC sitcom Led Astray, alongside Paul O'Grady - the pilot episode was recorded on 31 October 2013.

However, as of November 2014, the show has been shelved, due to the pair being unable to cope with the long hours of filming.[22] London Weekend Television By the beginning of the 1980s, Black was performing mainly in cabaret and concert and absent from television since a 1978 Thames Television special. In 1983, she appeared on the BBC's Wogan programme. Her appearance on this peak-time talk show was a major success, and her career in television was resurrected. According to Christopher Biggins in his autobiography, she "stormed back into the public consciousness with a barnstorming performance as a guest on Wogan in 1983, proving that we can all have second chances" and after her appearance, people were "desperately trying to find her the right comeback vehicle".[23] Black signed a contract with London Weekend Television, becoming the host of two of the most popular and long-running evening entertainment shows of the 1980s and 1990s—Blind Date (1985–2003) and Surprise Surprise (1984–2001).

She also presented the game show The Moment of Truth (1998–2001). All programmes were mainstream ratings winners and consolidated her position as the highest-paid female performer on British television.[24] Her TV appearances have made her spoken mannerisms ("Lorra lorra laughs", for example) and her habit of referring familiarly to her fellow presenters ("Our Graham") well known, although the over-emphasis on her Liverpool accent is contrived rather than genuine. Recent television work Black's most notable television performances since her resignation from LWT have included Parkinson, So Graham Norton, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Room 101 and a one off show titled Cilla Live! for Living TV. Black was a judge on the first series of the reality TV series Soapstar Superstar, has featured in an episode of the series Eating with... and has guest presented editions of The Paul O'Grady Show and The Friday Night Project for Channel 4 in 2006 and 2007 respectively. In 2008, Black filmed a pilot for a dating show for Sky One. Loveland was to be a ten-part "21st century" dating programme for the channel for the next year.

Unlike on Blind Date, contestants would not sit in front of a studio audience, but be 'hidden' behind real-time animations as they date each other. Each episode concludes with the contestant picking their preferred animated character before meeting that person in real life. Production costs, however, were too high and it was terminated.[25] In October 2009, Black guest anchored Loose Women and between September 2010 and June 2011, she made guest panellist appearances. On 28 November 2009, Black appeared on Sky1 to present TV's Greatest Endings. She also appeared as herself in the first episode of series 4 of ITV's Benidorm in 2011.[26] She has also appeared as the guest host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 5 December 2011. 50 years in showbusiness ITV honoured Black's 50 years in show business with a one off entertainment special which aired on 16 October 2013. The show, called The One & Only Cilla Black starred Black alongside Paul O'Grady, who hosted the show.

The show celebrated Black's career including a special trip back to Black's hometown Liverpool, a host of celebrity friends and some surprise music guests.

Black paid homage to Blind Date with the return of its most popular contestants and saw her star in a special edition of Coronation Street.[2] Credits 1984–2001 Surprise Surprise Presenter 1985–2003 Blind Date Presenter 1998–2001 The Moment of Truth Presenter 2009, 2010–2011, 2014 Loose Women Regular/Guest Panellist 2009 TV's Greatest Endings Presenter 2011 Never Mind the Buzzcocks Guest Presenter 2013 Your Face Sounds Familiar Guest Judge The One & Only Cilla Black Herself, co-presenter 2013 Led Astray (pilot) Tanya Guest appearances Wogan (1983) - Guest Piers Morgan's Life Stories (10 October 2009) -Guest Paul O'Grady's Christmas (24 December 2010) - Guest Benidorm (25 February 2011) - Herself Keith Lemon's LemonAid (7 April 2012) - Guest 100 Years of The Royal Variety Performance

 (7 December 2012) - Guest Room 101 (1 February 2013) - Guest Your Face Sounds Familiar (6 July 2013) - Guest judge Through the Keyhole (14 September 2013) - Panellist The Jonathan Ross Show (12 October 2013) - Guest This Morning (16 October 2013) - Guest Surprise Surprise (1 December 2013) - Guest The Kumars at No.

42 (TV series) - Guest Cilla (2014 drama series) In 2014, Black was the subject of a three-part television drama series, Cilla, focusing especially on her rise to fame in 1960s Liverpool and her relationship with Bobby Willis.[27] ITV aired the first instalment on 15 September 2014, starring BAFTA-award winning actress Sheridan Smith.[28][29] Personal life Black was married to her manager, Bobby Willis, for more than 30 years until his death from lung cancer on 23 October 1999. They had three sons: Robert (now her manager, born 1970), Ben (born 1974) and Jack (born 1980).

Their daughter, Ellen (born 1975), was born prematurely and suffered lung complications, living for only two hours.[30] In April 1992 she appeared on stage at a Conservative Party rally and made prominent calls for the party's re-election under the leadership of John Major.[31] But in an interview in 2004 with The Guardian, Black described herself as "apolitical".[32] The Liverpool Echo also quoted her as saying: "as for the politics thing, I'm not a Conservative."[33] In August 2014, Black was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[34] She was a strong supporter of the former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, saying in 1993 that she made Britain great again.[citation needed] Record producers Discography Awards In 2014, Black was the recipient of the British Academy Television Awards' "Special Award" in honour of her contribution to entertainment for the previous 50 years.[35][36] Books Autobiographies Step Inside.

London: Dent 1985. ISBN 0-460-04695-0. What's It All About?. Ebury Press 2003. ISBN 0-09-189036-5 References "Biggest selling chart stars of the '60s". The Daily Telegraph (London). 1 June 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010. "ITV celebrates Cilla's 50 Years in Showbusiness with a TV tribute: 'The One & Only Cilla Black'". CillaBlack.com. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013. Ancestry. Accessed September 2014 Genealogy Accessed September 2014 "What's your name and where d'ya come from?". Local History – Liverpool. BBC. Retrieved 5 February 2008. "St. Anthony's Church - Scotland Road". Scotland Road 2003. Scottie Press. Retrieved 5 February 2008. Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography.

New York: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 264–265. ISBN 0-316-80352-9. "All Music Guide Cilla Black > Biography". 12 April 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2009. Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 172–173. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. "Cilla—What's It All About". Stage & Screen. Lily Savage. 21 December 2003. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2008. "Panto: Cinderella's Got The Magic". 17 December 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009. "Cilla & Co In A Scouse Panto Cracker". Liverpool Echo. 16 December 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009. Lee, Veronica (22 December 2008).

"Cilla Sparkles In An Evening Of Fabness". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 9 January 2009. "We Love Cilla Black". 5 January 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009. "Cilla Black celebrating her 45th Year (Press Release)". Retrieved 30 July 2009.[dead link] [1][dead link] "This really IS The VERY Best of Cilla Black! (All the hits – new remixes and a DVD of ‘Cilla at the Savoy’)". CillaBlack.com. 22 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013. BFI | Film & TV Database | POP GO THE SIXTIES! (1969) Coming Home. Retrieved September 2014 "IMDb > "Cilla's Comedy Six" (1975)". Retrieved 14 May 2009. "IMDb > "Cilla's World of Comedy" (1976)". Retrieved 14 May 2009. [2][dead link] Biggins, Christopher (2009).

Just Biggins: My Story. John Blake. ISBN 1844546543. "Cilla Black to host BBC game show". BBC News. 14 March 2004. Retrieved 20 December 2008. "CILLA BLACK - CILLA BLACK RETURNS TO TV WITH ANIMATED DATING SHOW". contactmusic.com. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2008. "Video: Cilla Black in 'Benidorm'". Digital Spy. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011. "Sheridan Smith to play Cilla Black in new ITV drama". BBC. 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2014-09-23. "ITV commissions three-part drama Cilla, starring Sheridan Smith | presscentre". Itv.com. 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2014-05-20. "Sheridan Smith to star as Cilla Black in new ITV drama - TV News". Digital Spy. 2014-02-16.

Retrieved 2014-05-20. "Cilla Black's tears over the death of premature baby girl 'Ellen' 34 years ago", Daily Mail (London), 2009-10-08, retrieved 2014-12-17 Smith, Giles (12 October 1993), "The only bird in a beat boy's world", The Independent (London) Emma Brockes (2004-06-14). "'I was dead chuffed'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-12-17. Paddy Shennan (2011-07-26). "The Great Liverpool Debate day two: Where do Jimmy Tarbuck and Cilla Black fit in regarding plastic Scousers?". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2014-12-17. "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories | Politics". theguardian.com. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-08-26. "Cilla Black to receive BAFTA Special Award - TV News".

Digital Spy. 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-05-20. "BBC News - Cilla Black to receive Bafta Special Award". Bbc.co.uk. 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-05-20. External links Official website Conversations - Official Cilla Black Fan Forum Official MySpace Official Facebook The Girl From Abbey Road (Blogspot) Cilla Black at the Internet Movie Database Cilla Black at BFI Film & TV Database [ BBC News announcement of death of Cilla Black===] Singer and TV star Cilla Black, who enjoyed a 50-year showbusiness career, has died aged 72, her agent has said. The 1960s singing star became a popular TV celebrity on such shows as Blind Date and Surprise Surprise. Spanish police said a woman named Priscilla White - Black's real name - had died in Estepona on the Costa del Sol, where the star had a home. The death appeared to be due to natural causes, but this had not yet been confirmed by tests, police said. "It is with deep sorrow that I confirm...

the passing of singer and TV personality Cilla Black," said her agent, Nick Fiveash. "Details of her death will be announced following the coroner's report. Her family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time." Prime Minister David Cameron has paid tribute to the entertainer, remembering her as "a huge talent who made a significant contribution to public life". Tributes have also been paid by her friends from the world of entertainment. "I am so sad and shocked by news about my good friend Cilla," tweeted Dame Joan Collins. "She was a resplendent and rare talent." "Such a shock to hear about Cilla's passing," said Sir Paul McCartney. "She was a lovely girl who infected everyone with her great spirit. "From first meeting her as a cloak room girl at the Cavern in Liverpool, to seeing her many times since, she always had a fun-loving dignity that made her a great pleasure to be around. Search latest Priscilla White news - TheCelebrityauction.co Cilla Black died of stroke after fall: coroner British pop icon Cilla Black died from a stroke after falling on her private terrace and striking her head, a Spanish coroner ruled.

The 72-year-old-turned-TV host had been sun-bathing Sunday afternoon at her villa in Estepona, southern Spain, when she “got up, lost her balance and fell hitting her head, which knocked her unconscious,” her three sons, Robert Willis, 45, Ben Willis, 41, and Jack Willis, 34, said in a joint statement Tuesday that revealed the coroner’s findings. “She subsequently … read more British Singer And TV Host Cilla Black Dies At 72 Julian Parker via Getty Images LONDON (AP) — Big-voiced British singer Cilla Black, a product of Beatles-era Liverpool who became a national treasure over a 50-year music and television career, has died. She was 72. Spanish police said Sunday that the singer died Saturday at her home in Estepona, southern Spain. Black’s spokesman, Nick Fiveash, confirmed her death and said details would be released after a coroner’s report was completed.

Black was born Priscilla White in Liverpool, northwest England, … read more British singer Cilla Black dead at 72 LONDON — Big-voiced British singer Cilla Black, a product of Beatles-era Liverpool who became a national treasure over a 50-year music and television career, has died. She was 72. Spanish police said Sunday that the singer died Saturday at her home in Estepona, southern Spain. Black’s spokesman, Nick Fiveash, confirmed her death and said details would be released after a coroner’s report was completed. Black was born Priscilla White in Liverpool, northwest England, in 1943. As a teenager she … read more Sheridan Smith leads celebrity tributes to Cilla Black following her death aged 72 The entire nation has flocked to social media to share their sorrow over Cilla Black’s death, aged 72. And multiple TV stars were among the many fans who expressed their grief at the loss of the showbiz legend on Sunday.

Actress Sheridan Smith, who portrayed Cilla in the acclaimed ITV drama last year, led the tributes on Twitter, calling her ‘the most remarkable woman.’ Sheridan, who was nominated for a BAFTA for her lead role in Cilla, posted a touching message on Twitter on Sunday evening:

Question: By what name did Priscilla White find fame in the world of music?
Answer: Cilla Black